Viewing 40 posts - 41 through 80 (of 88 total)
  • Vuelta a España
  • scaredypants
    Full Member

    swiss geezer rode away from the breakaway on the really steep bit and “couldn’t lose” from there

    As it plateaud, hesjedal reeled him in. Won by miles in the end. He seemed to really want it today 😉

    WOnder if the post-race press conference is online anywhere

    scaredypants
    Full Member

    Then, 5 min later it all kicks off in the GC group:

    Couple of attacks, bit half-hearted at first, then Contador goes pretty hard. Group splinters, the grown-ups get back on fairly quick – except for Froome who looks gone. Turns out he’s Wiggoing his way back to them and later on he kicks hard off the front himself. Doesn’t gain masses of time, in fact very little, but they must be wondering how good he’ll be tomorrow & Monday

    … did I mention that Valverde lost quite a lot of time 😀 😀

    (still 2nd in GC though, I think 🙁 )

    ampthill
    Full Member

    Great tv 🙂

    beej
    Full Member

    Great stage, I had it on from about 70km out, managed to doze through until about 20km left and was gripped by the last 5km.

    Froome stuck to his plan, let the other GC boys burn themselves out a little and rode back past them. Bertie looked to be working pretty hard, his face is normally pretty impassive but he was having trouble staying with Valverde for a while.

    Ryder had one hell of a grin on his face for the last 100m.

    ampthill
    Full Member

    Ryder had one hell of a grin on his face for the last 100m

    Battery held out!!

    I mean his lactic didn’t get too high

    butcher
    Full Member

    Froome has been great to watch. A few stages now where he’s looked completely done, and genuinely been spat out the back, only to reappear and start bossing it!

    I think it’s been interesting because everyone’s so closely matched. Contador has been pretty good, but there’s no clear winner yet. It’s a shame Quintana’s out though.

    Gutted for Zaugg! He must’ve thought he had it.

    Haze
    Full Member

    No live coverage tomorrow…am I missing something, dropped in favour of the ToB?

    JCL
    Free Member

    I think Nibali would be winning.

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    No live coverage tomorrow…am I missing something, dropped in favour of the ToB?

    Bit of a poor show that by Eurosport, could be one of the most important stages in the race too. May still be live on the player. Though the published schedules aren’t always the same as what’s screened. I think tomorrow they have ToB on one of their channels and the Vuelta on the other.

    cinnamon_girl
    Full Member

    And another great finish. 😀

    cinnamon_girl
    Full Member

    Jeez, there’s been a punch-up. 😯

    jota180
    Free Member

    Handbags

    [video]http://youtu.be/9WakP7VOjbA[/video]

    Crell
    Free Member

    The last 3 days have been brilliant. On the first stage it was good to see everyone on their limit. Friday and more likely Saturday will be the decider. Froome still has a chance I think

    That handbags ^^ incident today was a joke. What a pair of muppets

    chrismac
    Full Member

    It seemed to take a long time for the Tinkoff rider to be told to stop, especially after he had helped get contador back to the group

    shortbread_fanylion
    Free Member

    Yeah, that was a bit dodgy, only pulled over after doing some sterling work for Contador. Great race though – much prefer it to le tour this year. Real shame Froome and Contador had to withdraw.

    cinnamon_girl
    Full Member

    Another good day, really enjoy the Vuelta.

    tpbiker
    Free Member

    so much better than the tour has been for the past 3 or 4 years..

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    Friday and more likely Saturday will be the decider. Froome still has a chance I think

    Or could a three week stage race really come down to a 10k time trial?!

    brakes
    Free Member

    great racing today – always admired Froome and enjoyed watching him, now I’m starting to actually like him!
    Contador is looking majestic though.

    Crell
    Free Member

    Froome just comes across as a really humble guy (really enjoyed his autobiography as well). I lol’d at Valverde’s comments about AC, Purito and he being the best riders before today’s stage. He was obviously thinking it was game over after yesterday for Froome. AC looked great today but really suffered on Saturday. Who knows if he can he win…

    Or could a three week stage race really come down to a 10k time trial?!

    I thought the ITT was on Sunday? Pointless stage really. Would only ever be exciting if there were 15 secs or so splitting the lead.

    tpbiker
    Free Member

    Froome looks like he can suffer like no other.

    Coming round to Bertie as well, great to watch.

    Spin
    Free Member

    Coming round to Bertie as well, great to watch

    Tainted though he is he remains a racer through and through.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    He’s great to watch, but I find myself sitting there watching with a look of ‘Hmmmmm’ on my face. He does make it look rather easy.

    mogrim
    Full Member

    He’s great to watch, but I find myself sitting there watching with a look of ‘Hmmmmm’ on my face. He does make it look rather easy.

    Sitting there at the back of the group, carefully studying his stem, and then from out of nowhere he attacks. He does make it look a bit too easy at times…

    scaredypants
    Full Member

    just watched the highlights of st16

    never mind the riding, that’s a bloody lovely region !

    mogrim
    Full Member

    never mind the riding, that’s a bloody lovely region !

    Amazing valley / gorge they ride up at the end – nearly did a (running) mountain marathon there this year, time/work/money ruled it out though… but next year…

    Speshpaul
    Full Member

    “It seemed to take a long time for the Tinkoff rider to be told to stop”
    Indeed, but if i was the DS as soon as i heard about the spat i’d have had working like a dog, riding my no1 riding up to the front after a bike change then leading out the group until he was kicked out………oh hang on a minute…………unfair? good management yes.

    oscillatewildly
    Free Member

    much better than this years TDF which quite frankly once contadaor, froome and no quintaro was absolutely boring!

    this has been class to watch the last few days

    froomes on his limits, but still has the edge over everyone bar contador, who looks like hes not even trying most of the time

    I do think if froome hadn’t been injured/missed tdf etc he’d be on better form, but of course the same goes for contadaor too

    great viewing the last few days though, would love to see a little twist in the end now, but cant see past contador given his performance yesterday

    chakaping
    Free Member

    Bertie’s got it in the bag, barring a crash or something. Should be a good contest between Froome and Valverde for no 2 though, really contrasting riders.

    much better than this years TDF which quite frankly once contadaor, froome and no quintaro was absolutely boring!

    Really? I thought the absence of the Sky train and the emergence of several big talents like Rafal Majka (sp) and the Frenchies made it fascinating.

    Plus Nibbles is really likeable and straightforward compared to tortured Froome or dirty Bertie.

    Nobby
    Full Member

    I’ve found the Vuelta the most entertaining of the Grand Tours the last few years and this one is no exception.

    Still struggling to ‘believe’ the Bertie phenomenon though – broken leg at the TdF, bugger all time on the bike since etc yet comes in to this race looking like he’s on a training ride with his less fit mates.

    It’s been interesting to see the contrast between Froome & the other contenders mind – the spin your way up @ XX watts is maybe less exciting than attack/cruise/attack but it seems pretty damn effective.

    llama
    Full Member

    Froome obviously had a plan for the last 3 days and stuck to it. Not going to be enough to win baring a Bertie disaster. He’s got a good chance of 2nd I guess but Valverde isn’t going to roll over for it.

    What I don’t get is Bertie.

    Either

    (1) He was in incredible form at the tour and would have breezed it. His form now in the Vuelta is the tail end of that.

    or

    (2) He is a big baby and that broken leg in the tour was anything of the sort so he used it as an excuse for poor form to focus on the Vuelta.

    or

    (3) Special steak on the menu

    In any case I don’t believe what I’m seeing.

    Please don’t let it be (3)

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    Well Bjarne and Oleg were both claiming that Contador was on his best ever form at this years TdF and would have breezed it. Looks like they may have not been far wrong. Still suspect there’s a bit of (3) though. And the recovery does seem miraculous.

    chakaping
    Free Member

    How could he have doped his way back to that kind of form in a few weeks though? Is it possible?

    And he’d be caught if he was using bloodbags to stay so strong during the race wouldn’t he?

    irelanst
    Free Member

    He’s a Spaniard leading the Vuelta, the doctors in the doping tent are probably weeing in the pot for him

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    A rest day video interview with Froome…

    [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8FroakFMYk[/video]

    Got to be Degenkolb today surely?

    Lifer
    Free Member

    mrblobby – Member

    A rest day video interview with Froome.

    Get those sideburns cut! Hippy

    scaled
    Free Member

    Lets not forget that Froome was targeting the TdF as well, Valverde isn’t a pure climber and shouldn’t be able to win a Vuelta like this.
    We’ve seen all of the main GC boys crack at some point, I can’t see how you’d see that as evidence of doping?

    If Quintana was still on his bike then i’m pretty sure that we’d have a right old scrap on our hands (not like Mondays, but you know what I mean)

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    If Quintana was still on his bike then i’m pretty sure that we’d have a right old scrap on our hands (not like Mondays, but you know what I mean)

    Would have definitely made it interesting. Quintana being more in the Froome mould of climbing than Valverde or Rodriguez. Bertie seems to have the measure of all of them at the moment though, reckon he’d still be leading.

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    Good stage today. Though it did look a lot like the three Spaniards were being motor paced back to Froome towards the end of the stage… shades of the Vuelta of old!

    tang
    Free Member

    Well it wouldn’t be the same would it!

Viewing 40 posts - 41 through 80 (of 88 total)

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